I agree, I am also unsure of how much of an impact that scouts have in the process so I try not to judge GMs too much for their draft decisions but we definitely did not pick the player that I was hoping for at 37. The fact that cristall was still there was a blessing and we threw it away. Even then I thought we would maybe draft based on needs and there was a couple of good centers left in Heidt and Sawchyn but we ended up drafting another RW. Gauthier is still a good player and there were far more questionable picks in that draft but I am still kinda disappointed. I also would put Huuhtanen, Gauthier, Edmonds, Schmidt and maybe Hugo in the Hopefully NHLer category but the rest I agree with. Interesting pick in Shaugabay, seems like he will be a boom or bust

All of those players probably grow to be NHL players I just don’t know if that happens while they are still on the team. Hugo might have to be a tdl asset if he doesn’t have a good year. All the other players are long term projects and probably won’t be ready until 2025 earliest

wait was the hopefully nhler for making the team this season or just at some point in their development?

Gauthier was arguably the best available. I would have liked Brindley, but he was taken already. Gauthier was ranked by some as high as #16, and most had him going mid-to late 1st. Overall, he seems like a good pick.

Cristall is huge boom/bust, and apparently his skating is an issue, Tampa's had enough issues lately with that, so thisnpick seems good.

Some point in their development. The Syracuse tab was players I think will spend more of their time in Syracuse than Tampa

I really wanted Brindley but at the same time do we not have enough small fowards. Some size would have been nice. My personal pick would have been heidt but I’m fine with gauthier

He's not that small at around 6'0, 185; granted Heidt and a few others were a little taller and/or bigger, but for overall skill, I think Tampa did very well here based on most projections I saw.

Cristall is a boom/bust but his ceiling is so much higher than Gauthier. Also I think the comments about his skating were overblown, he dropped as far as he did because of lack of tenacity. He is so skillful and has great stick handling and vision. We could have used a player like him on an ELC but oh well. Gauthier is more of the role player that tampa is used to so he would probably fit in better with our system anyway I suppose. I also really dont like drafting players from the Q, would much prefer taking them from the WHL